Aims: Organizational culture (OC) affects morale and service quality in a wide range of professions. Despite interest by NIDA and practitioners, the impact of OC on performance of drug abuse treatment providers has not been examined systematically. This study's primary goal is to better measure quality of care and OC in the drug treatment arena, determine how OC impacts on quality of care and employee morale, and provide guidance on improving a facility's OC. We propose to accomplish this by: developing behaviorally-anchored rating scales (BARS) for staff to evaluate the dimensions of quality care in drug abuse treatment settings; devising a measure of the OC dimensions likely to promote quality care and employee morale; accessing administrative outcome measures of quality; examining the relationship between OC and both quality care and employee morale in the treatment setting; and conducting a benchmarking study addressing ways in which a facility's OC might be improved, thereby effecting change in treatment quality. Methods: The study population will be drug abuse treatment staff in three California counties. The research plan includes a survey of treatment staff to examine the relationship of OC with staff-rated quality of care, administrative outcome measures, and employee morale; a comparison of culture and morale with outcomes-based measures of treatment quality, a benchmarking study to determine how best to change and improve OC in treatment settings; and feedback and dissemination. The Critical Incident Technique will be used to develop BARS covering the key dimensions of quality care in a drug abuse treatment setting; measures of OC, related perceptual/affective variables, and employee morale will be used or adapted. The relationship between these variables will be empirically examined. Qualitative methods will be used to identify exemplary methods of effecting cultural change in treatment settings; multimedia dissemination will occur. Implications: This investigation will make a number of contributions to the field. These include informing practitioners and researchers about the role that OC plays in quality care and employee morale; informing them how to make positive changes in a facility's OC; and development of tools that can be used for program evaluation and performance management in substance abuse treatment settings.